Friday, February 29, 2008

One of the most bothersome things about discussions of neoconservatism is how critics resort to uncritical conventional wisdom or inaccurate stereotypes to ridicule the Bush administration's war in Iraq. To hear these folks, the war's always a "disaster" or a "failed policy of idealist neo-imperial overreach." Rarely are events placed in historical context (World War II, for example, had its share of disasters, and was hardly a sure run thing until late in the conflict). I'm seeing this trend more lately, as otherwise esteemed analysts and pundits make the same mistakes over and over again in reviewing recent journalistic histories of neoconservatives in the top ranks of power.For example, David Greenberg, who writes very respectably on trends in conservatism, makes some simple, largely discredited or unsubstantiated remarks about the movement in his review of Jacob Heilbrunn's They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons:

Not long ago the term "neoconservative" seemed ripe for retirement. The label was originally applied in the 1960s and 1970s to the ex-liberals (themselves ex-socialists) who turned halfway to the right after becoming disenchanted with the Great Society, left-wing politics, and the Democrats' post-Vietnam isolationism. Under Ronald Reagan, however, the neocons kept moving right and joined in a broad right-wing consensus, and by the 1990s it became hard to tell them apart from other Republicans....Despite some tensions that surfaced during George Bush Sr.'s presidency, Reagan's conservative coalition cohered, more or less, until midway through the current administration. Only with the failures of Bush II and the Iraq War has the concept of neoconservatism gained new life and new meaning, at least on foreign policy (on domestic issues the neocons now can hardly be distinguished from other Republicans). On one side, the neocons' zeal for the war has earned them seething hatred (occasionally tinged with anti-Semitism) from the anti-war left, as younger bloggers, indifferent to the label's precise meaning, sling it as an all-purpose epithet. On the other side, the Republican crack-up has resurrected old internecine splits on the right -- Wall Street versus Main Street, isolationist versus neo-imperialist, and paleocon versus neocon -- with the neocons often being blamed for the right's disarray.

There's the "failed war" meme right there!To be fair, though, sure, the war did look increasingly, disastrously lost in the fall of 2006. But the point (attack) was made more often by enraged radical left bloggers (with little credibility) than evenhanded policy analysts.I keep these thoughts in mind whenever I see some new essay on the Bush administration's Iraq policy or on the neoconservative movement.So I was quite pleased to read Adam Garfinkle's review of three new books on the Bush adminstration over at Foreign Affairs, "Bye Bye Bush: What History Will Make of 43?"Garfinkle reviews, Fred Kaplan's, Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power, Heilbrunn's, They Knew They Were Right, and Jacob Weisberg's, The Bush Tragedy.He does a great job. The review's analytical and fair, and Garfinkle's no neocon. But the most important section comes near the end of the piece, where he puts Bush's efforts in Iraq in analytical and counterfactual perspective:

Years from now, when historians work on advanced drafts of the Bush legacy, they may well conclude that the Iraq war, the failed "freedom agenda," and the White House's response to 9/11 compose its central contributions. But this is not certain. After all, judgments about historical epochs are, as the humorist S. J. Perelman once observed of the prospects for immortality, "subject to the caprice of the unborn." And even if these policies do turn out to be the main themes of the Bush presidency, they might look different a decade or so hence. For example, the conclusion of all three authors that the Iraq war and the collapsed freedom agenda make the Bush presidency a failure is premature. All three books were conceived before the surge in U.S. troop levels in Iraq improved security there. More broadly, who can possibly know now the long-term effects of current U.S. policy in the Middle East, any more than French observers in 1801 could accurately reckon the impact of Napoleon's botched adventures in Egypt? Yes, neoconservatives, flush with having been vindicated by the West's victory in the Cold War, lazily applied their creed to problems and places for which their experience was a poor guide. But who is to say that a third generation of neoconservatives, whose arrival Heilbrunn foresees, will not do better? Whatever they are called, and wherever they come from, there will be idealists in the United States' future.

Garfinkle argues that other Bush administration failures - such as the "retrograde" bureaucratic reforms following September 11 and the Katrina disaster of 2005 - will likely be way more important in forthcoming historical assessments of the Bush adminstration's legacy.He may be right, but I must admit being surprised that his review wasn't one more canned denunciation of that "evil neocon cabal" who hijacked American foreign policy to implement the "greatest military blunder" in history.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

"It begins with a single Qassam rocket, one of the thousands of homemadeprojectiles fired in recent years by the Islamic radicals of HAMAS from theGaza Strip into southern Israel.

The rockets have made life nightmarish for many Israelis but have largely missed their targets. But this one gets "lucky": It smashes into an elementary school, wounding 40 children and killing 15."

From such a scary pic start off - random targeting of a school mind you - it gets worse. Little Satan finally says the heck with it and launches an old school panzer strip blitz. Lured into armor kill zones ala Kursk, house to house fighting like Fallujah and Jenin break out.

HAMAS screams "Massacre! Massacre!" and instantly the lame stream media does a 24/7 complete with Gaza Green Helmet guys, freshly displayed deceased innocents and the result is outrage and violent riots throughout the ME.

Basharopolis acts out with a real live military attack on the Golan Heights.

Little Satan absorbs the attack, counters and Syria retaliates with chemical warheads on Little Satan's cities. The IAF begins turning entire blocks of government ministries and complexes into huge smoking craters in the oldest continually inhabited city in the world.

"Sound fantastical or too horrific to ponder? Not to Israeli intelligenceanalysts it doesn't. The Israeli military recently conducted a round oflarge-scale war games based precisely on this scenario.

In some rounds, Israel managed to humble Hamas and Hezbollah while shooting down most of the Iranian and Syrian rockets with its own Arrow and Patriot antimissile systems. But other forecasts went far less well: Israel survives but barely, with its cities devastated and countless civilians killed."

Now the cat who paints such a realistic(?) pic is Michael Oren. A very good historian, 2 of his books are def must haves - "Power, Faith, and Fantasy (America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present)" and the essential "6 Days of War - (the Making of the Modern Middle East)."

Dr Oren's prescrip is to point to the 6 Day War. The ME is a lot like it was way back then. And a lot different too.

"A conflict between Israel and Iran might not last six days but six hours,unleashing shock waves even more seismic than those of 1967."

Raining K'Ssam rockets (40 on Wednesday alone) with no end in sight is totally uncool in a dangerous way. Until recently, HAMAS has been faking it .

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Drama, the Persian Version turned into a full blow riot in Tehran this WE. The Fashion Posse, out to halt hijabed hottiness tried to bust an offending hootchie (at the Mall - no less) who most likely gave the officers some sass.

Given the B slap and fixing to get toted off she was able to use her secret powers to summon help from all the guys - and all heck broke loose.

"The riot broke out in Tehran on the weekend when the Iranian ChastityPolice attempted to arrest a young woman they said was inappropriatelydressed. Witnesses say the young woman resisted arrest, which caused the policeto push and beat her.

The sight of the woman being beaten prompted a bystander to come to her aid, but he was also roughed-up by the security forces.Dozens of Iranians who were present at the scene began rioting andsetting rubbish on fire.

The riot was captured on numerous cell-phone cameras and shows people shouting slogans against the police and government.The crowed reportedly called out against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

"That was when the large crowd, predominately made up of young people, roseup against the police and attempted to liberate the young woman themselves.

Faced with a full-blown riot - complete with angry crowds with garbage cansbeing set on fire - the frightened police jumped into the van and fled thescene, except for one unfortunate officer who was left behind. The policeman wasreportedly attacked and beaten by the mob."

Most likely - that's when the officer had a double epiphany - that the guy who thought up the dress code was an idiot - and that he was an idiot for trying to enforce it.

Eventually the Fashion Posse came back with the Riot Police and dispersed the crowd of over 3K.

Hootchie Brigades, deployed with cellular commo devices march and patrol the entire Mall - from the entrances through the food courts and cool boutiques and hip kiosks. And they hang in packs.

The ultimate in attention magnets, flaunting, fronting, posing and obviously ignoring those OMG! Lookin' like you was on the menu! looks.

Turning heads and broadcasting vibes that can't be denied. Like the ancient CD by the Black Eyed Peas:

"They say I’m really sexy, The boys they wanna sex me. They always standing next to me, Always dancing next to me,U can look but you can’t touch it, If u touch it I’ma start some drama, You don’t want no drama, No, no drama, no, no, no, no
drama So don’t pull on my hand boy, You ain’t my man, boy, I’m just tryn’a dance
boy."

This is significant. And universal. Hanging at the Mall and hollering at hotties is an old school tradition that has not only made it into the New Millenium and pop/snap tuneage - it's global.

Like in Saudi Land. Ancient Kingdom with Princes and Kings (yet rarely a mention of queens, princesess - or even Mother's Day - weird), fully stocked on antique Holy Places, oil and fixing to bust wide open with kids.

"The internet has destroyed constraints and given the younger generation of
Arabs an opportunity to link up to the outside world, and give their opinions on
local and international issues. Blogs have now appeared to add an important new dimension. They have created a generation of "citizen journalists" who are in contact with each other, conduct impromptu dialogue, and see that their opinions reach anywhere in the world where those interested in such opinions can be found."

"The morality police, whom Saudis sometimes derisively refer to as the
"Taliban," are notorious for committing excesses in their fervor for enforcing
the Kingdom's puritanical Wahhabi brand of Islam. Typically, squads of mutaween patrol streets and shopping malls, caning shopkeepers who fail to shutter their doors at prayer time, scolding women who allow flesh to show from under their mandatory black gowns, and lecturing adolescent boys caught following or talking to girls. By the commission's reckoning, its members "correct" the behavior of
800,000 people a year. "

These cats (they REALLY hate the color red too), mostly volunteer, patrol the Kingdom and make sure lottie dottie everybody conforms to an almost medievel conduct code. A kind of Combo Police they busybody their way all the way into nearly every aspect of life.

Fashion Police, Mingling Police- these Anti Fun Adjutants perform 'policing' that ranges from dress codes, making sure all the guys pray 5 times a day (unverified reports claim they harass guys that wear lace up shoes and wicked western style ties - after all how can they pray so often with all that restrictive gear on?)

"The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice beganinterrogating 57 men Saturday (23 Feb '08) who were arrested after allegedly flirting with women in front of a shopping mall in the holy city of Mecca, alleging behavior that included dancing to pop music blaring from their cars and wearing improperclothing."

Oh Snap! Since the guys behaviour is, well - uh, totally normal maybe? - what is a h'jabed hottie to do in an alledgedly abnormal society?

Locked away in their rooms - unable to 'mingle' in public or use their secret weapons to get their hooks into guys at the mall or anywhere else - they are high tech hootchies - using webcams to netcast naughty teases on line to an army of frustrated (in more ways than one) guys from all over the ME - not just the uncool controlled kingdom.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Firewalls, last chance, Alamo - it's showtime tonight. In a certain poli party's primary debate held in Ohio - this killer tune by Hawthorne Heights (also from Ohio) may be a killer cool soundtrack for what the 'lame stream media' calls a last ditch effort to turn things around for a certain lady who wants to be pres in the Buckeye State.

Appropiately (and ironically delish) entitled "Ohio Is For Lovers", it's showtime. So turn down the sound on the TV, click on the OIFL link, crank the volume and make up your own dialouge.

"Hey there, I know it's hard to feel like I don't care at all.Where you are and how you feel. Put these lights off as these wheelskeep rolling on and on. (and on and on and on...)

Slow things down or speed them up. Not enough or way too much.(and on and on and on...) Are you and I gone?

And I can't make it on my own. (And I can't make it on my own.)Because my heart is in Ohio.

"Many critics of American foreign policy - both at home and abroad - assertthat the United States has overextended herself unnecessarily in othernations affairs. Some liberal critcs even chastise the United States forbecoming an "Imperial Power."

These criticisms are completely off the mark. Those who worry about America's projection of power are overlooking how America got to the position she occupies at this moment in history: the world's dominant political and military, the only nation that will actually go into the world and strike down evil."

This is significant. For Great Satan, "National Interest" is not a 'geo mapi - graphical' phrase (well maybe for trade and enviro regulating) it is global. Tiny and small nations might appropiately feel that their nat'l interest begin and end at the border. Natch, their foreign policy would most likely be defensive only.

A larger nation has more extensive interests - by design. Like Soviet Union time Russia and Great Satan today - collective ID is ideological, big boys have ideological interests in addition to purely materialistic concerns.

Sans something weird and unheard of, Great Satan will always feel bound and obliged to defend any democracy under the gun from unfree, unhinged and undemocratic threats - external or internal. Kinda like the Euro escapade in both world wars.

Same thing with Japan, SoKo, Taiwan or Little Satan today. When geopolitical best girl friends forever are under attack - the claws come out. Nothing magic about it.

Fact is, the Great Satan's 30 years in the future military is super superior (and some are in denial about this - which says more about their world views than anything else) to any imaginable combination that could be arrayed against her. This wasn't an evil plot by pre emptive, preventive plotters.

It came with the turf. Just lucky - bad or good - Great Satan racked up one heck of a military biz during the half century since WWII time Deutschland and Nippon gave up fascist and imperial ghosts and succumbed to Regime Changes.

While Europa rebuilt, recovered and rehabbed, Warsaw Pact time Russia laid out of real combat (except for losing their hide in Afghanistan) and used Soviet homies and local fanboys to do the fighting.

When Russia tried to put down Grozny the 1st time in the Commonwealth era - it was horribly embarrassing. - like catching a longtime Gf hooking up with a guy that she KNEW you liked.

"The initial attack ended with a major rout of the attacking forces and led toheavy Russian casualties and nearly a complete breakdown of morale. Anestimated 1,000 to 2,000 federal soldiers died in the disastrous New Year'sEve assault.

All units of the 131st "Maikop" Motor Rifle Brigade sent into the city,numbering more than 1,000 men, were destroyed during the 60-hour fight in thearea of the Grozny's central railway station, leaving only about 230 survivors(1/3 of them captured). Several other Russian armored columns each lost hundredsof men during the first two days and nights of the siege."

The mighty Red Army quagmired in their own back yard with the first defeat suffered by Russia nearly 51 years to the day. Not since the wicked Wehrmacht desperately delivered a bloody nose at Zhitomir Ukrainia had the Red Army been defeated and retreated.

When an almost identical sitch occured at Ah Nasiriyah in '03 - Great Satan pretty much redecorated the place (in early millenium 'Steel on target' fashion), launched an on the spot counterattack that not only reached temporarily cut off units - but ended up capturing the entire burg.

Half a century of nigh constant confrontation cloned creative combat cadre that would never leave a comrade behind. Armed with the ultimate in Battlefield meds, real time communications and more precise firepower in hand, on hold and on call than panzer prima donna's ever dreamed.

Great Satan blinging for combat stuff rate wise expanded along with America's economic growth - while Euro powers blinged on social programs and refrained from fighting amoungst themselves, cut spending on their militaries and focused on trading and tech.

The Soviet Union spent cash (rubles, actually) at an alarming rate. Mostly wasteful, Mother Russia's military AND economy bashed heads and knocked each other all the way out in collapse.Magically, after 20 years or so, despite faux school ideas like "imperial decline" Great Satan busted out of her cocoon as uniquely powerful - the only one of Her kind. Meds, science and high tech were off the hook - and generously applied to creating and upgrading everything from electric pencil sharpeners to cruise missiles.

"Not only that, of all the great Western democracies, the United States hasmade the most radical committment toward the guarantees of full equality underthe law and the pursuit of the unimpeachable human dignity in the history ofWestern civilization.

Have we always lived up to our ideals? Of course not. Thomas Jeffersonhimself embodies the contrast of our nation's lofty ideals and our ignominiouscrimes of injustice.

But we have overcome.

From Abraham Lincoln to George W. Bush, the march of Americandemocratization - while not always swift - has been unrelenting."

And all of Great Satan's children and fans worldwide - truly - should be audaciously proud of that.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

What Pakistan needs, has always needed, is a system in which the populate reflects the rich diversity of the Land of the Pure.

Billed as an "Islamic Republic" that nom de guerre doesn't really do it justice. Pakistan is the hood for almost everything - 22 million Christians and over six million Hindus. 165 million people - nearly 40% under the age of 14 - a literacy rate of nearly 50% and around 12 million people online is the very def of diversity.

Transparent, periodic, free and fair elections are the best prescrip meds of prevention for civil wars, insurgencies and misery.

"President Musharraf, few weeks ago, said that he would leave when nation wouldwant him to leave. The nation has asked him to leave by rejecting revoltingly, his hand-made Pakistan Muslim League-Quashed. Pakistan is rejoicing and you can sense it everywhere. Even the sun is smiling and flowers just cannot wait to come out and declare an early spring.

Mr. Musharraf has himself conceded that his acts of 3rd Novemeber were notconstitutional, and now nation is looking up at their newly elected leaders to reinstate the judiciary, and free media and start doing some practical measures to show nation that they mean business.

But in this regard nation has to play a very vigilant part. They have done theirhalf part by rejecting the forces of status qou, and they now need to see that their leaders don’t get it wrong, and do what they told them that they would do once in power.

They need to now rally behind their elected leaders and make sure that Mr.President leaves power, and let the civilians rule the country. The nation should also get prepared to ensure the implementation of measures which will translate their dreams into the realities. The victors will have to make a government, but not before they clearly tell nation what their mutual game plan is."

What happens to the war on Al Qaeda? Will the Army maintain the buddy buddy relationship with Great Satan that Pervez has cultivated? Will Pervez get sacked? Will the PPP live up to Benazir's promise to be the terrorists worst nightmare?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Last Friday, February 15, I promised you that in my next reflection I would deal with an issue of interest to many compatriots. Thus, this now is rather a message.The moment has come to nominate and elect the State Council, its President, its Vice-Presidents and Secretary.

For many years I have occupied the honorable position of President. On February 15, 1976 the Socialist Constitution was approved with the free, direct and secret vote of over 95% of the people with the right to cast a vote. The first National Assembly was established on December 2nd that same year; this elected the State Council and its presidency. Before that, I had been a Prime Minister for almost 18 years. I always had the necessary prerogatives to carry forward the revolutionary work with the support of the overwhelming majority of the people.

There were those overseas who, aware of my critical health condition, thought that my provisional resignation, on July 31, 2006, to the position of President of the State Council, which I left to First Vice-President Raul Castro Ruz, was final. But Raul, who is also minister of the Armed Forces on account of his own personal merits, and the other comrades of the Party and State leadership were unwilling to consider me out of public life despite my unstable health condition.

It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis-à-vis an adversary which had done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant to comply.

Later, in my necessary retreat, I was able to recover the full command of my mind as well as the possibility for much reading and meditation. I had enough physical strength to write for many hours, which I shared with the corresponding rehabilitation and recovery programs. Basic common sense indicated that such activity was within my reach. On the other hand, when referring to my health I was extremely careful to avoid raising expectations since I felt that an adverse ending would bring traumatic news to our people in the midst of the battle. Thus, my first duty was to prepare our people both politically and psychologically for my absence after so many years of struggle. I kept saying that my recovery "was not without risks."

My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath. That’s all I can offer.

To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much by electing me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements should be adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief.

In short letters addressed to Randy Alonso, Director of the Round Table National TV Program, --letters which at my request were made public-- I discreetly introduced elements of this message I am writing today, when not even the addressee of such letters was aware of my intention. I trusted Randy, whom I knew very well from his days as a student of Journalism. In those days I met almost on a weekly basis with the main representatives of the University students from the provinces at the library of the large house in Kohly where they lived. Today, the entire country is an immense University.

Therefore, it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer. This I say devoid of all drama.

Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process. Some were very young, almost children, when they joined the fight on the mountains and later they have given glory to the country with their heroic performance and their internationalist missions.

They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement. There is also the intermediate generation which learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organizing and leading a revolution.

The path will always be difficult and require from everyone’s intelligent effort. I distrust the seemingly easy path of apologetics or its antithesis the self-flagellation. We should always be prepared for the worst variable. The principle of being as prudent in success as steady in adversity cannot be forgotten. The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century.

This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of ‘Reflections by comrade Fidel.’ It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Electile dysfunction plagues certain pols who would rather 'burn in oil' than give Great Satan credit for striking down wicked Ba'Athist Iraq, defeating Al Qaeda and turning the M16 into a world famous icon.

"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also afailure. You are a curse on your nation and you have brought and will bring themonly catastrophes and tragedies"

YAWN. It could have been used by any number of pols, think tank hanks and fellow enemy encouragers.

Actually spoken by defeatist fanboy and supervillan OBL's sidekick the evil Dr Z, it could be interpeted to mean an unhinged personal bond based on a personal unhinged dislike.

While SOTH Nancy Pelosi was showcasing her risible "The Surge Sucks" on TV, Al Qaeda was showcasing that caliphating in Iraq is as broke and played as any chance of a KFed comeback.

And this demonstrates certain inappropiate handwringers are either fronting deceit about the stakes or, - even worse - total ignorance.

Fact is, Surge proves Great Satan methodically, repeatedly, without mercy or modesty annihilated, marganilized and split AQII out of the A.O. (Area of Operations for defeatists).

Surging in on the gates of Mosul means aside from any murderous mini strikes AQ is finis' as a pseudo military force in the Land between two Rivers.

Al Qaeda left a diary behind and Great Satan broke into it faster than an army of little brothers. It's killer cool to eavesdrop on the wretched ramblings of a defeated enemy.

"The renegades and Americans started launching their attacks to destroy us.Welost cities, and afterwards villages, and the desert became a dangerous refuge.We got away from people and found ourselves in a wasteland desert."

Sweet! Civilian free, target rich environments (just like B'Kah Valley!! - hint hint) are just the place for murderous players with a penchant for tormenting innocents and sympathizers alike.

This is significant. AQII' is losing killers faster than they can get them. Iraq is becoming a giant caliphate cemetary filled with more than silly martyrs - it's also the landfill for played, out of date intolerant raison d'etre for a bankrupt cause to outlaw dVd's - no less.

Abu Tariq ex emir of a recently liberated pocket caliphate confides to 'Dear Diary' that marginalizing influences like cash, fun and free choice has shrunk his especial purpose from like over 600 guys down to less than 20.

"We were mistreated, cheated and betrayed by some of our brothers. Those peoplewere nothing but hypocrites, liars and traitors and were waiting for the rightmoment to switch sides with whoever pays them most."

His anger is understandable - what guy wouldn't be tore up about getting shrunk? In especial mohammedist circles the concept of the Ummah or Mohammedist community, nation, empire, emirate is caliphating itself into extintion.

"To begin with, Al Qaeda central--Osama bin Laden and his lieutenant, Ayman alZawahiri--know they are in trouble. The war has produced a small epistolaryavalanche of tactical recalculations and spiritual appeals to brother Muslims tofocus the fight on American infidels.

Iraq was supposed to break the United States. This was, in bin Laden's words, "a war over the destiny of the entire umma ." Instead, Iraq is becoming a serious setback, if not a spiritual Waterloo, for the Muslim world's most feared and most respected jihadists. As bin Laden conceded about the Iraqi jihad, "Allah only knows what sort of ramifications it holds for Islam and its people."

By contrast, it is democracy in Iraq, as bin Laden correctly foresaw, that wouldbe toxic to his cause: Few ideas elicit from him more venom."

Contrary to retreatists who say the heck with all them people or Surge sucks - even if it is to try to magnetize event unsaavy (historical or au currant) voters.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Reaffirming our wish to become fully integrated into the Euro-Atlantic family of democracies.

We, the democratically elected leaders of our people, hereby declare Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state.

We declare Kosovo to be a democratic, secular and multiethnic republic, guided by the principles of non-discrimination and equal protection under the law.

We shall protect and promote the rights of all communities in Kosovo and create the conditions necessary for their effective participation in political and decision-making processes.

We accept fully the obligations for Kosovo contained in the Ahtisaari Plan, and welcome the framework it proposes to guide Kosovo in the years ahead. We shall implement in full those obligations including through priority adoption of the legislation included in its Annex XII, particularly those that protect and promote the rights of communities and their members.

We shall adopt as soon as possible a Constitution that enshrines our commitment to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all our citizens, particularly as defined by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Constitution shall incorporate all relevant principles of the Ahtisaari Plan and be adopted through a democratic and deliberative process.

We welcome the international community's continued support of our democratic development through international presences established in Kosovo on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

We invite and welcome an international civilian presence to supervise our implementation of the Ahtisaari Plan, and a European Union-led rule of law mission.

We also invite and welcome the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to retain the leadership role of the international military presence in Kosovo and to implement responsibilities assigned to it under UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the Ahtisaari Plan, until such time as Kosovo institutions are capable of assuming these responsibilities.

We shall cooperate fully with these presences to ensure Kosovo's future peace, prosperity and stability.

"We are heartened by the fact that the Kosovo government has clearly proclaimedits willingness and its desire to support Serbian rights in Kosovo. We alsobelieve it's in Serbia's interests to be aligned with Europe and the Serbianpeople can know that they have a friend in America."

When I saw this really HOT! guy - he was an army officer going to school and man this guy was totally off the hook, funny, smart - a chest full of combat ribbons - someone I could argue with and learn from - besides he was great arm candy too. I was totally forecasting the future in the 1st 10 minutes I met him. I was fantasizing about us in the future with kids in a LandRover - I was picking him up from work and then we were hitting the beach.

About that time this super hot babe waltzed up - she was model material - drop dead gorgeous with a rock on her hand as big as the moon. Of course it was his wife, I think.

Dr Michael Desch is one of Great Satan's brainiacs - until recently. Formally the foremost authority on civilian control of the military and also street and city fighting army style.Anyway the thing is - when Fallujah was fixing to go down the 1st time in April 04 - and until it did go down in Nov '04 - Desch was NEVER consulted or referred to, or conferred with.Ditto Surge.Obviously dissed about that, Desch fights back with a boring, totally incorrect piece that frankly, decorum does not allow to be repubbed. The short version is Great Satan should be bound up and refuse to act out even if her own interests are at stake, and the very idea of Great Satan unbound in the new millennium is horrific.YAWN.Super fly smart guy Dr Donald Douglas of So Cali and the essential daily "American Power" took up the hissing dissing hissy fit and staked Dr Desch's hair to the floor so tight - the poor guy can't even blink!

"Given the gains that Americans have achieved in Iraq since 2006, the implementation of the Baker plan’s (realist) proposals on the precipitous termination of America’s strategic commitment to Iraq would have been crushing blow to American national security interests, and to the hope of the Iraqi people. Today, amid the continued denunciations of the Bush administration’s foreign policy among some circles of the progressive foreign policy community, the United States stands on the verge of achieving a key number of the goals the administration set forth in 2003 during the run-up to the invasion and those elaborated in later executive-legislative branch wrangling over the conflict. Indeed, area studies experts have announced a fundamental and positive transformation of the strategic situation of the Middle East on the eve of the Bush administration’s exit from office.

Desch’s work in "America’s Liberal Illiberalism" marks a serious effort to address the controversial questions surrounding America’s history of democracy promotion in U.S. foreign policy. Unfortunately, a careful analysis of Desch’s scholarship reveals many of the same exaggerations and distortions common in paleoconservative journalism and antiwar political activism on Iraq. In his work, badly misspecified in its driving assumptions, Desch fails to provide a comprehensive picture of America’s efforts of democracy promotion in Iraq (there’s nary a footnote of information that would raise flags over his thesis), and thus the research appears to lack the professional norms of non partisan even-handedness that should be the hallmark of rigorous international relations scholarship."There are tons more stuff that Dr D uses to make the case that Great Satan isn't 'over reacting' and is indeed on solid historical ground. In fact, Great Satan has been stirrring things up on a global scale since the day she was born.permission granted by Dr Douglas and AmPow to share choice bits."Gothic Fairy" by Gamileah

Friday, February 15, 2008

The proud people of Pakistan have a deep affection and regard for democracy. The nexus of Pakistanis with democracy is two-way and recurrent despotic regimes have smeared lots of mud on this pretty nexus.

Now in these fearsome and desperate times, we need to ignite a fervent passion in our hearts, and we need to realize with vengeance that we are free and we have got to realize the value of freedom and we need to realize as how much precious this treasure of democracy is for us.

We, all who are free, and who treasure our freedom above all the gifts from the Almighty must bring unity in our rows, we must know each other better, we must foster peace, harmony and love, and we need to trust each other more and communicate with each other more.

We have to take care of each other and we must join hands to fight out the scourge of terrorism, and we must fall in love with our darling basic rights and the fairy of democracy.

One of the things which make Pakistan great is the many young people we have in borough, who are energetic, optimistic, brilliant, aggressive and loving, and who know the value of democracy and who have faith that Pakistan will surge ahead with the speed of light.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Revenge is a lot like pizza. Especially delish when served piping hot, it's also great at room temp or even cold.

And sweet too! Great Satan is absolutely reveling in the sweet bittersweet glow of hooking up to the original Supervillan. Imad Mughniyeh.

Totally old school - cutting his teeth with Comrade 'Papa' Arafat's "Force 17" way back in the last millenium - way before CD's, MP3's and dVd's, Imad's bloody bona fides in cold blooded murder and torture of helpless captives span decades.

Reading his dossier is to take a tour of a psychopathic snakepit mind of an evil Brainiac.

A sworn enemy of Great Satan and Little Satan, intell experts felt unclean- like they needed a shower or a tetnus shot after plumbing the ungodly, unclean depths of a horrific cesspool.

"The guy is a genius, someone who refined the art of terrorism to its utmostlevel. We studied him and reached the conclusion that he is a clinical psychopath motivated by uncontrollable psychological reasons, which we have given up trying to understand."

Recruited by Hiz'B'Allah in that loser loving league of intolerants at the very begining Imad was alledgedly involved in terror plots for decades.

"Imad then joined Hiz'B'Allah and was appointed by, Ahmad Motevaselian, a leaderin the revolutionary guards in Beirut at the time, as the Party of God’sintelligence chief. His leading role in three operations made Mughniyeh’s nameon the top of most-wanted lists in the United States and France: the bombing ofthe US embassy in the Lebanese capital in April 1983, in which 63 US andLebanese individuals were killed, the bombing of the US Marines barracks inBeirut, in which 241 died and the bombing of the French barracks in the BekaaValley, which killed 58 French soldiers."

The Islamic Republic is bummed about losing a Hiz'B'Allah client and commander and blames those naughty IDF commando types. A good guess, after all, Little Satan has taken asymmetrical warfare to an artform with pinpoint kills.

Mutual enemies mourn a 'martyr' (which is weird - shouldn't they be happy and pass out Laffy Taffy instead?) Hiz'B'Allah plans a State within a State funeral, no doubt complete with tons of imported innocents to serve as customary shielding.

After all, revenge like pizza, is even better with more toppings.

"With all pride we declare a great jihadist leader of the Islamic resistance inLebanon joining the martyrs, The brother commander Hajj Imad Moghaniyah became a martyr"

"We urge the Muslim and Arab nations to act decisively against the Zionistoctopus that threatens the security of Arab and Muslim countries. We condemn this crime and we emphasize the Muslim nation must rise up to confront the Zionist devil which is back by the Americans""

Little Satan usually licks her bloody claws clean in public whenever her enemies are granted instant access to the perfumed gardens of Paradise - but not this time. Little Satan's PM's office

"rejects the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement in thisincident. We have nothing further to add"

Splitting the 'Iranian school' in downtown Damascus and hopping in the ride - right before he ignited the ignition of his very own suicide bomb - Imad heard a sexy whisper in his ear.

"Revenge."

Imad caught a glimpse of Great Satan - replete in her scaled, taunt breastplate armour of purity weilding her sword, Steadfast and Courageous. Beautiful, savorying the moment of the kill, Her fangs gleaming in the twilight.

"Revenge"

Somewhere tonight, on the trackless expanses of ocean - within weapons range of intolerant, illegitimate regimes, their militias, their fanboys, their hired psychopathic murderous 'brother commanders' there is soulful celebration onboard the USS Robert D. Stethem.

"We welcome the news that Imad Mughniyeh's life of terror has finally come to anend. From Beirut to Dhahran, he orchestrated bombings, kidnappings andhijackings in which hundreds of American service members were killed.Hopefully, his demise will bring some measure of comfort to the families ofall those military men he murdered."

The Pakistani Spectator is a fully crunk, rock and rolling HQ for unbridled idea sharing that is off the hook. Diverse, witty, event saavy and a great source to keep track of what all is going on in a frontline battlefield of freedom, human rights, egalitarianism - all the cool stuff - versus intolerance, injustice and despotism.

"There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don't; that our attachmentto freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights,the rule of law are American values or Western values; that Afghan women werecontent under the lash of the Taliban; that Saddam was somehow beloved byhis people; that Milosevic was Serbia's savior.

Ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit,and anywhere--anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance tochoose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, notdictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line ofdefense and our first line of attack. And just as the terrorist seeks to dividehumanity in hate, so we have to unify around an idea.

And that idea is liberty. We must find the strength to fight for this idea and the compassion to make it universal. Abraham Lincoln said, "Those that deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." And it is this sense of justice that makes moral the love of liberty. "

It will not be much longer until Pakistan is free - and you and your efforts and those of your comrades will be a huge part of it.

Thanks also to Right Truth and Radarsite for blowing this way up and spreading the word, y'all are true blue.

Ghazala is a kindred spirit - a soulmate - a comrade in this crunk and disorderly time.

"She has been roaming the corridors of Blogistan for the last two years, andherself started blogging from March, 2007 because she wanted to let the worldknow her passionate views about judiciary who started struggling to gainfreedom. The movement of lawyers for judiciary carried on and so is the blogging streak of her."

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Great Britain's Right Honourable (and right HoT!) Foreign Sec David Miliband is hitting Ye Olde Oxford campus today with a demarche of marching orders for changing the world. Sure to make Realpolitikers and Isolationists on both sides of the Pond scream "Foul!"

"We've got responsibilities that we're determined to live up to and obligationsthat we're determined to live up to and ditto for the Agfhan authorities. That'ssomething we want to follow through and at the heart of both our strategies isthe belief this has to be done with the Afghan government and in fact led by theAfghan government, with our support."

Making the case for constant confrontation and selective intervention military wise GB's FoSec sounds like a champion of ideals to take Neoconservatism into the next decade. Blowing off any sure to follow critique about current battles to turn freedom's shaky candles in certain places into blazing torches for freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, Miliband makes the case that the Free World can handle it - and the sooner she gets fully crunk, aggressive and nonapologetic about it - the better.

"The neo-conservative movement seemed more certain about spreading democracyaround the world. The left seemed conflicted between the desirability of thegoal and its qualms about the use of military means. My plea is not tolet divisions over those conflicts obscure our national interest, never mindour moral impulse, in supporting movements for democracy."

And how! Yet, isn't there something scary about current ops in Iraq and Afghanistan? Maybe the free world has went too far too fast? Bollocks to that mate!

"In fact, the goal of spreading democracy should be a great progressive project;the means need to combine both soft and hard power. We should not let thedebate about the how of foreign policy obscure the clarity about the what."

Last week in Afghanistan, David and Condoleeza were confronted with skeptical press pointing to a most unsuper villan act of terror that seemed like a weak play of 'Gotcha!' Dr Rice fielded that one.

"It frankly doesn't take much courage to blow up a school"

The spiritual sons of El Alamein and Arnhem are sending a message to NATO to pick up the slack - that mainland Europe is vulnerable - that we all need to be in it to win it. After all, why have all these Euro militaries if all they do is prance and parade about on asphalt and use the catchy (in a really dumb way too) logo of "Peace through Dialouge"?

"After the end of the cold war it was tempting to believe in the 'end of history' - the inevitable process of liberal democracy and capitalist economics. Now with the economic success of China, we can no longer take the forward march of democracy for granted."

Monday, February 11, 2008

München, Deutschland - home of Beer Hall Putsches, BMW and NATO's Conference on Security Policy. The 44th just wound down and Great Satan and a few select buds were on hand to dish out some strong medicine.

Individuals arrested in Bosnia with explosives, a suicide belt, and an instructional propaganda video;

Two plots in Denmark involving explosives, fertilizer, and a bomb-making video; andJust in the last few weeks, Spanish authorities arrested 14 Islamic extremists in Barcelona suspected of planning suicide attacks against public transport systems in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Britain.

Imagine, for a moment, if some or all of these attacks had come to pass. Imagine if Islamic terrorists had managed to strike your capitals on the same scale as they struck in New York.

Imagine if they had laid their hands on weapons and materials with even greater destructive capability – weapons of the sort all too easily accessible in the world today."

"We should also remember that terrorist cells in Europe are not purely homegrownor unconnected to events far away – or simply a matter of domestic law andorder. Some are funded from abroad. Some hate all western democracies, not justthe United States."

Def Sec Gates delivered a bit of a history lesson to soft power salesmen about NATO's history and how she was founded as a bond between free, functional egalitarian societies to initially defend against and then utterly destroy aggressive regimes bent on conquest by Stuka und Panzer.

Resulting in a several Regime Changes and the forcible establishment of functional, free, egalitarian democracies that remain to this very day. Democracies that tend to fiddle about blindfolded while an ever closer world is literally on fire.

"I am not indulging in scare tactics. Nor am I exaggerating either the threat orinflating the consequences of a victory for extremists. Nor am I saying that theextremists are ten feet tall.

The task before us is to fracture and destroy this movement in its infancy – to permanently reduce its ability to strike globally and catastrophically, while deflating its ideology.

Our best opportunity as an alliance to do this is in Afghanistan. Just as the hollowness of Communism was laid bare with the collapse of the Soviet Union, so too would success in Afghanistan, as well as in Iraq, strike a decisive blow against what somecommentators have called Al Qaeda-ism."

Historically speaking, when the smoke cleared after VE Day in 1945, Europe was in ruins - not only physically - but also in cash and spirit. Instead of giving up and going under, America led and Europeans built, created, speculated and came out with the longest period of Peace that Europa has ever known.

Even the Cold War now seems to have been a no doubt victory. The only question really is how on earth did the Soviet Empire hold out so long against a world that ignored the jawflapping, prepped for war and maintained a watchful eye - ultimately resulting in the most awesome of all Regime Changes - from the inside out.

"A time when we again faced a threat to peace and to our liberty squarely andcourageously. A time when we again shed blood and helped war devastated peoplenourish the seeds of freedom and foster peaceful, productive societies. Thatmission drew us together in 1948 and keeps us together today."

Maybe - it's the same thing now. Alexis de Tocqueville once prophesied that foreign affair wise, democracies had a tough time with "great undertakings" and the willpower to "follow it with determination."

With NATO, the European democracies and Great Satan did follow it with determination. Def Sec Gates gets psychic too:

"Future generations will look back on this period and say, victory seemed almostpreordained."

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Great Satan's 13th Colony might be getting more turf - and water. Tennessee would lose parts of East Ridge, Chattanooga and other areas if Georgia lawmakers, angling for aqua access, win a border moving time travelling (1826?) contest in the Georgia State House.

The largest state east of the mighty Mississippi, Georgia has her hands full - supplying water to Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Hotlanta is the only major city in Great Satan that is not near a coast or a gigantic lake.

Lookout Mountain, Ga., surveyor Bart Crattie, who has written about flawed surveys in 1818 and 1826 that set the boundary, said if the border is moved about a mile north to match the 35th degree of north latitude, Tennessee could lose property from North Carolina in the east to the Mississippi River in the west.

"It would take (into Georgia) the whole city of East Ridge, East Brainerd, all ofSt. Elmo, a big part of Lookout Mountain and East Lake"

Georgia's resolution, cranked out on Wednesday, would create a border potentators league to hook up with other borderliners in TN and North Cackalackey to fix probs that Yee Hawlander lawyers openly reckon were incorrectly created with ancient naval navigation devices way back in 1818.

"Historians say mathematician James Camak, who led the team, begged the state toprovide him the latest equipment, but instead he had to rely on an Englishsextant -- an instrument more familiar to sea captains than land surveyors.Other stories say Camak's team was scared away by an American Indian party."

The 35th parallel cuts through a southern dip of the Tennessee River just upstream from Nickajack Dam, north of the current state line.

Peach State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, said earlier this week that Georgia has

Loser lover Seymour Hersch raves it delivers the dirt on the "looney tunes" and "sci fi" fans who usurped America's weak, worthless ignoble waning power and totally ruined everything by taking their day gigs seriously, pretending Great Satan won the Cold War and that 911 could be a harbinger of future threats.

Refraining use of the "R" word out loud this time, Dr K tests the aqua with a toe or two in the LA Times.

"U.S. leaders stomped around the globe with wide-elbowed indifference tothe consequences of their actions."

Oh Snap! Globe stomping is what Great Satan does best. Actually called sticking to your guns. Besides - of all the things that could be listed about Globe stomping - indifference AIN'T on the list.

Should Great Satan really care about the regional aspirations of regimes like Iran that openly deny the Holocaust and openly plot the next? Or pitiful rats nests like Sudan that would happily skin a humanitarian lady alive because of some risable retarded (in the classic sense - no less) 8th century concept of sacrilege? Good luck with that.

Complaining that no one in either party really addresses Foreign Policy except for talking to allies, Dr Kaplan dodges the point. Americans kill enemies and only really talk when enemies scream "God! Please! Stop!"

In the New Millenium, scary unfree regimes and time traveling fanboys (rocket hot or not) should worry about what Great Satan thinks of them - not some fan club outreach to a place like Syria that is totally freaked about Facebook. SOTH Pelosi's trek to Basharopolis hasn't really seemed to help.

"Germany joins France in opposing resolutions on Iraq in the U.N.Security Council -- and nothing happens to Germany"

Nothing except the elected PM gets sacked and Deutschers vote in a PM that wants to draw closer - not further from America. The same America that dissed the UN's collection of thug huggers, creepy blocs and leagues and took out the trash at the same time.

Nothing except fighting a campaign to put paid to the idea of an independent Kurdistan. Kinda hard to deny Turkey's own Kurds that there's no such thing - when they see it across the border in northern Iraq - kind of a mini Kurdistan free and semi functional.

"Bush warns Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak not to trample on human rights; the trampling continues -- and not only does nothing happen to Egypt, but on hisrecent trip to the Middle East, Bush commends Mubarak for his commitment todemocracy."

Actually, the last one is a play from Dr K's own "Suck up to Hosni Song" that he sang in a possible fit of jealousy last year. Nothing happens to Egypt? Only that Hosni is a lot like the guy who adopted a baby python (constrictus palestinianus) fed it, nurtured it and now it could devour his regime.

"The next president can begin to rebuild U.S. influence, but he or she cannotdo it alone. The task requires rebuilding alliances, and that is a harder taskthan before."

Professor Michael Mandelbaum, Foreign Policy and Internat'l expert at Johns Hopkins University reveals in his killer crunk "The Case for Goliath" that

"Every threat to internat'l order for which the United States bore responsibility after the Cold War involved a government that fell short of Western and economic standards.

Every security problem that the American government felt called upon to address would be alleviated, if not solved altogether, if the regimes responsible for them could be remade to American specifications. For the global economy and internat'l security, the United States functioned, in the wake of the Cold War, as the world's government."

"They believed, and acted, as if American power were not only undimmed butsupreme and unchallengeable -- as if a president's grimace would still make tyrants tremble and the dispatch of light armies could remake the world."

Oh Snap! America Unbound did remake the world -

Regime changing Ba'Athist Iraq (with the largest Arab army in history in 20 days - no less).

Libya's Colonel Khadaffy trembled and gave up the ghost with his surprisingly advanced secret WMD witchcraft.

Decapitating the Taliban and driving them into a giant kill zone like the former 'No Go' Federated tribal turf in Pakistan.

Staring down Iran in Iraq with multiple Mahdi army massacres, Tehran trembled enough to yank Mookie's asset out of the Surge's Mookie minion mashing Bahgdad sweep. And sack Larajani. And their Revo Guard Commander.

The NIE 2007 'nuke free since '03' is 'moderately confident' that Iran "trembled" enough to forsake nukes and are left with only Kamikaze motorboat flotillas to sortee periodically.

"The next president might try to rally an anti-Iran coalition of Sunni leaders inthe Middle East. But those leaders will need some enticements from the UnitedStates to take the necessary risks. What deal would the next president offer to,say, the Persian Gulf states near Iran to encourage them to join the enterprise?"

Dr Kaplan does realize that diplomacy is often non profit jaw flapping that doesn't solve everything everytime but then he totally blows it by trying to paint a weak Great Satan that is helpless without the aid and abetment of unfree regimes who are primarily interested in maintaining their own power at any costs, destabilizing the hood, projecting projectile proliferation and a penchant for bomb squads to torment their neighbors.

"In many situations, though, the vital interests of two countries are simply irreconcilable -- and neither has the power to make the other give in."

Now that is flat out Realpolitk - not even good code - and after 60 years of failed Foreign Policy like Dr. K's fave - is so last year - totally out of date in the new millenium. No new ideas, no hope and no future for Great Satan except as a broke no game player trekkin through a bizarro global hood where it's getting dark.

"The next presidents will have to get down in the dirt, strike deals andtrade favors. It's no longer morning in America, but it's not quite twilighteither."

In a way - this piece by Dr. K could be interpeted as saying far more about publicizing an inner ethical wrestling match and coming to terms with Realpolitik's failure. A potential personal epiphany super slide from the old school Cold War amoral, corrupt, cult of stability towards a new school, amoral, corrupt cult of stability.

A history do over and rewriting Great Satan's response to 911 is a very weak excuse for some realthink pursuit to reignite magical mythical stability, detente' or neo isolationist coexistence.

Realpolitik's real history is of wars, genocide, terrorism - in a word - failure. Hopes of a resurrection should really be as incinerated as surely as the nearly 3K innocents who made it to work that late summer day.

Outsourcing Great Satan's ideals and diminishing her dominance will be a tough sell in the new millenium, just like weak, boring, enemy encouraging handwringing that anything that happens is entirely Great Satan's fault.

"The next president can begin to rebuild U.S. influence, but he or she cannotdo it alone. The task requires rebuilding alliances, and that is a harder taskthan before."

Since 911, Great Satan has demonstrated her will power, fire power and staying power to hit up scary places in the world, adapting, annihilating and allying.

wHoA!

h0t!

~hEy Y"all! DoN"t MiSs GsGf~!

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